As consumer confidence in the economy falls, bundles of unsold NASCAR tickets grow.

Martinsville Speedway is not immune even with a seating capacity that ranks among the smallest in the Sprint Cup series.

Tickets remain for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500. Track president Clay Campbell, noting the economy, said Wednesday that ticket sales "have been soft this year versus years in the past."

Sold-out signs at NASCAR ticket windows are slower to pop up. Richmond International Raceway, once considered among the most difficult tickets to get, has backstretch seats available for its cup race in May. Track officials, though, expect to record their 33rd consecutive sellout. Tickets also remain for May races at Darlington, S.C., and Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.

Campbell notes that unlike other sports, race tracks draw fans from greater distances. Nearly half the ticket buyers for Martinsville's Cup race last fall came from more than 200 miles away, track spokesman Mike Smith said, citing ticket department research.

A majority of Martinsville's typical race-day crowd comes from Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Soaring gas prices could keep some of those fans from attending. The Energy Information Association reports that gas prices nationally have climbed nearly 50 cents per gallon since September. Gas prices in the lower Atlantic region, which includes Virginia and North Carolina, have increased 28 cents per gallon since Feb. 4.

It's not just gas prices that make people more selective in their purchases. The Conference Board Consumer Research Center reported this week that U.S. consumer confidence hit a 35-year low.

"Looking ahead, consumers' outlook for business conditions, the job market and their income prospects is quite pessimistic and suggests further weakening may be on the horizon," said Lynn Franco, the center's director, in its report.

Jeff Byrd, president of Bristol Motor Speedway, said his track will record its 53rd consecutive sellout when the cup series returns in August, but even he worries about what might happen beyond that.

"That doesn't mean we're going to be OK forever," Byrd said. "We need to do something to change the business model, because we can't change the economy by ourselves. We shouldn't raise ticket prices ... for the foreseeable future. Some of the tracks that aren't sold out have really good ticket deals. I think we need to continue to be real cost conscious."

Ticket sales are soft at several International Speedway Corp.-owned tracks, which include Martinsville Speedway, said ISC spokesman Charles Talbert. He said his company plans to keep grandstand ticket prices level, along with providing free parking at some tracks.

Martinsville offers free daily parking. Its lowest grandstand ticket, at $42, is among the sport's most inexpensive. Even so, large gaps of empty seats Sunday would likely lead to questions about Martinsville's hosting two cup races a year -- something it has done since 1950.

Relished for being rustic (and for its hot dogs), others regard the track as a dinosaur in a sport where seating capacities of 100,000 or more are common.

Martinsville and Darlington both seat 65,000, according to investor filings by International Speedway Corp.

Homestead-Miami Speedway, which hosts the season finale, is the only other oval with a cup race that lists a seating capacity of less than 75,000.

Campbell said he wouldn't like having empty seats -- about 1,000 went unsold for last fall's race -- but doesn't see it as a death sentence for his track as it was for North Carolina Speedway after the 2004 season.

"If you look back to when some tracks didn't sell out in the past, that was when everybody else was selling out," Campbell said. "It's different now. If we were the only ones not to sell out, then I would have a concern."

Talbert said he doesn't foresee ISC taking away one of Martinsville's race dates but notes there's no guarantee.

"If you look at what NASCAR has publicly said ... they want to eliminate the changes that have gone on the last few years," Talbert said. "So, I think they would be very sensitive to that, but that's not to say if things deteriorate rapidly or significantly that a change wouldn't happen."